


And They Were Roommates

by Anonymous



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Caretaking, Darryl Noveschosch Needs a Hug, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Rain, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, Skephalo, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Soulmates, Strangers to Lovers, beta read...kinda, nobody dies i promise, soft, they're soulmates your honor, u KNOW i love rain in my fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29281509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sometimes it's nice to have a friend who can keep you company.Presumably some stranger you meet online who owns a dog, keeps weapons on them at all times, bakes muffins, and is presumably either a murderer or just completely insane.Skeppy didn't think he needed someone like that until now.-Or in which, maybe investing in a roommate was the best/worst idea Skeppy has ever had.
Relationships: Zak Ahmed & Darryl Noveschosch, Zak Ahmed/Arran | JustVurb, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 13
Kudos: 75
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

Noise bounces off the walls more frequently and the air near the floor feels colder than usual. 

Most of the rooms stay abandoned, waiting or hoping for something to fill them; a person, decoration, clothes, even a carpet could help, yet to no avail. 

The only room that was ever walked into was the spare bedroom that was only used when family came to stay over during holidays.

That room hasn't been touched in months.

Over the past few days, Skeppy has started to notice these things. Started to notice how the room echoes when he yells or how he thought there used to be a plant next to his front door, yet he hasn't really recalled anything there. Stared to notice how he's started talking to himself to help with the silence at night, how he wishes he had someone to look at face to face, someone to talk to instead of over a webcam or a phone. 

A friend, really.

Yes, because after many painful nights alone with nothing but himself and twitter to occupy his thoughts, Skeppy has began to realize something very clear.

He is lonely. Very, very, lonely. 

It's not like he had only now just realized this, he's used to being on his own most of the time, he literally moved out at 18. But it has become achingly clear that he needs some sort of company around to fill the silent rooms he has in his house. Sure, he could go ask his neighbor to stay with him, but he can't really see himself living with her all the time, plus, they only ever really talked once or twice. 

Most of his friends probably couldn't travel to see him either, which is kind of a bummer, because even though Vurb is a weirdo, he still would help brighten his life a little more. 

So he sits for days on end, hopelessly pinning for someone to talk to in the morning or watch scary movies with at night. It's frustrating, the need to have someone there for him and yet having no one in sight, no one he could turn to.

A sudden head rests against his lap in protest.

Okay, well he's not completely alone. He still has Rocco. But even so, even has he begins to quietly pet him and hum some tune he probably heard the other day, he still pines for someone to tell him stories, walk with him, just something to remind him he's not all by himself. 

"I dunno man," Vurb says when Skeppy asks for help, "Buy a roommate online or something." 

Skeppy immediately sits up in his chair, "Is that a thing people can do?"

"Dude, are you that desperate?" he asks, and snickers at the "maybe" Skeppy mutters under his breath, "Just go live with your neighbor or something."

Skeppy groans, "That's kinda weird though..."

"Your loss." Vurb verbally shrugs. 

Skeppy mutters out some witty response before opening a tab and typing quickly, searching for something.

Vurb catches on almost immediately, "I don't think you can actually-"

"How would you know?" Skeppy asks, rolling his eyes, as he looks through websites his eyes widen and he breaks into a smile, "Holy shit."

"What? What is it?" Vurb asks, "Is it a thing?"

"It's a thing." Skeppy says. "Sort of. You don't buy people, but you can apply for one."   
  
"Are you actually gonna do this? Don't you think it's a _little_ shady?"   
  
"Yes and yes. So could you shut up and help me?"  
  
"You're an idiot." Vurb sighs, "What's it say?"

  
So for the next 4 hours, Skeppy sits on call with Vurb setting up a profile for himself on some website he hopes isn't shady based on the reviews it has. By the time he's done it's nearly 7 in the afternoon and his back hurts from being in the same spot for so long and Vurb is long gone. He yawns and cracks his knuckles before deciding to take Rocco for a walk before it gets too dark. When he grabs the leash, Rocco sits up and begins to paw at the door much to Skeppy's amusement. He ends up walking around the neighborhood and then stopping at a local corner store. 

While walking by the chip isle with his items, he catches a glimpse of a green tint and double takes, "Pickle chips?" He snickers to himself at the absurdity of anyone ever buying them. "Gross."

He gets home, exhausted from having to run after Rocco when he strays too far from the sidewalk but still excited about the thought of not being alone anymore. He wipes his forehead and checks his computer for anything new. 

And okay, he would be lying if he said he was a little disappointed. But things take time. He'd just had to wait a few days.

And so he waits.

And he waits for a while.

"Dude it's been 2 days, you're overreacting. " Vurb says. 

Skeppy scoffs, feeling frustration yet again, "It feels like it's been forever."

"Did you get any at all?" 

Skeppy shifts, "Well..yeah, but I didn't like most of them." 

"Were they girls?" Vurb asks, and another mumbled "maybe" leaves Skeppy's lips, "Maybe you're just picky."

"I don't think I am..."

Skeppy's computer suddenly gets a notification, "Wait, hold on I got a new one."

He looks it over and tilts his head quizzically, thinking for a moment. "Huh." 

"What, is it another girl?" 

"No, it's actually not. But it's weird as hell." 

"What's it say?"

"Well, he goes by "BadBoyHalo" for one." 

Vurb suddenly wheezes so hard Skeppy physically recoils at the sound, "What....what the hell?!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too." Skeppy says, "and his dog is literally named Rat."

"Are you sure this isn't some guy who's trolling?" Vurb asks, still snickering. 

"I wish it was, but it actually sounds pretty genuine." Skeppy says, "He's also in need of someone to stay with, so why not right? Plus he seems nice. It says he knows how to bake muffins!"

"Okay loverboy, go talk to him then." 

"I swear I'll hang up this call Vurb. What do I say?" 

"Switched up so fast," Vurb says, "I dunno, just tell him that you accept his application and then ask him to meet up with you."

And so he does just that. 

\---

After some time, they choose to meet on a Saturday. Skeppy spends the next few days cleaning out the old untouched guest room, making it look as presentable as possible. He really doesn't wanna fuck this up. 

He hears a knock at his door at around 2 PM and tries to calm his nerves as he opens the door, "Hey." he says casually. 

"Hi." He says back, he's looking anywhere but his face, almost like he's embarrassed to be there or something. "You're Skeppy...right?"  
  
"Yeah, I am!" Skeppy says, trying to keep his voice straight as he suddenly finds himself more nervous than he thought he'd be, he turns behind him and pulls his dog to his side, "And this is Rocco!"  
  
"He's cute." Skeppy continues, and he bends down to scratch his head, "He really likes head pats."

...Okay, this was much more dramatic in his head. He would be lying if he wasn't a little embarrassed right now.

"Um, you can come in!" Skeppy says and awkwardly shuffles to the side so that he can move his stuff through the door. He can see he's carrying a cage, probably for his dog. He's dressed in a black turtleneck and jeans, the only noticeable color being his shoes that look like hot Cheetos, being the terrible red that they are. His glasses are broken down the middle, only being held together by a loose piece of tape. His hair is almost covering his entire face, probably after not having a haircut in a while. _  
  
_Oh, wait he's staring at him. What?  
  
"Where..?" The stranger says quietly.  
  
"Oh! Sorry, come here." Skeppy quickly walks him down a large corridor and into the guest bedroom, which is cleaner than Skeppy has even seen it. He's kinda proud of himself.  
  
"Thank you." he says, still quiet to where Skeppy almost doesn't hear it.   
  
"No problem," Skeppy waves him off as he goes into another room, "I'll leave you to that! I'll be in the other room if you need me for anything!"  
  
The man nods and puts his bags down as Skeppy sneaks off back into his room and immediately dials his phone.   
  
It picks up, "Hello??"  
  
"Vurb he's here. Oh god what do I do I'm so nervous."   
  
"You are so helpless, y'know that?" He can hear Vurb rolling his eyes, "Go say hi to him, idiot."   
  
"I did that already."  
  
"Did you show him Rocco?"   
  
"Yes Vurb, I showed him Rocco."  
  
"Suck his toes? That's a sign of respect where I'm from." Skeppy is nearly this close to hanging up. Of course Vurb decides to be an idiot when he needs him most.  
  
"Vurb, I swear to god I'll call Finn if you don't help me right now."   
  
"Okay, relax." Vurb says, "Go ask him questions, like where he's from and stuff. And offer to help him unpack so it's not weird."   
  
"Thank you." Skeppy sighs and hangs up wearily. After taking a deep breath and wiping his sweaty hands, he slowly walks over to the other room and knocks.   
  
"Come in! Oh, hey watch your step, okay?"  
  
Skeppy doesn't question the order, he probably has clothes on the floor he's sorting, or maybe some glass artifact that he brought with him, or maybe weapons like guns and knives and-  
  
What the hell.  
  
Much to Skeppy's surprise, floor is covered throughly in weapons; knives, guns and even a full _katana_ is on the floor, right in front of him. The man in front of him seems to have no problem with any of these however, simply just sorting them into boxes while humming along to himself.  
  
"What the fuck." Skeppy says, a little more harshly than he'd like, but still. He backs up at the sigh of a gun near his right foot, holding the door with caution.  
  
"Wh- language! Is something wrong?" He says, as if he's not packing weapons in someone's house right now with no explanation.  
  
"You're- you didn't tell me you were a _murderer_?!" Skeppy yells.   
  
"Because I'm not!" The man says in protest, "They're for self defense..."  
  
"Who are you trying to defend yourself from to the point where you need..." Skeppy counts the items in his head, "three guns and ten knives for?"  
  
"Well there's more than that...but that's besides the point." He says, "I have a license, if it makes you feel better."   
  
"About having guns in my house?!"   
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Skeppy wants to scream in confusion. Is this dude serious right now?  
  
"What was your name was again?" Skeppy asks.  
  
"You can call me Bad." He says.  
  
"Right. Do you...do you want help or?" Skeppy offers.   
  
"No it's fine, do you have water though?" Bad asks, going back to examining the knives carefully.  
  
"Yeah sure, give me a second." Skeppy says, leaving the room and running back to his room to quickly redials Vurb's number.  
  
"Dude, get a girlfriend or something." Vurb groans when he answers.   
  
"He's going to kill me Vurb, I knew that website was shady. Vurb my last words are I love you and you're an idiot."  
  
"Whoa whoa, what? What happened? You didn't fuck up your first interaction, right?" Vurb asks.  
  
"Vurb, he's literally a murderer. he's hoarding guns and knives like it's _nothing._ " Skeppy whispers, just in case he can hear him, "I went in and there were so many on the floor-"  
  
"Did you ask him what they were for?"   
  
"He said self defense, but you don't understand, he could've just lied." Skeppy bites the inside of his cheek nervously.  
  
"You just met him, chill out. Give him a day at least."   
  
"But what if he kills me in my sleep or something?!"   
  
"I'm sure he's not gonna kill you dude."  
  
"Alright, but if I die them I'm putting it all on you." Skeppy says and hangs up once again. He quickly goes to the kitchen and retrieves the water before bringing it back to Bad, who has cleared up most of the knives by this point. He's got some T-shirts folded up on his bed and the cage is sat in the corner of the room. Skeppy can barely make out the image of a small dog, it appears to be sitting quietly, probably taking a nap.   
  
"That's my Rat," Bad says, smiling fondly at the dog, "She's tired from being up all night."  
  
Skeppy uses that as an opportunity to get some questions in, "Why'd you name her Rat?"  
  
"It's only a nickname," Bad says, "Her name is Lucy."   
  
"Does she like other dogs?" Skeppy asks.   
  
"I'm not sure, but I promise she doesn't bite." Bad says.   
  
"Alright, I'll take your word." Skeppy shifts over to the sit on the edge of the bed, beginning to swing his feet.  
  
They sit in silence for a while, Skeppy watches Bad puts his things into a large closet. He doesn't look like he has much besides his large collection of weapons; only a few shirts, some sweaters and jeans here and there, a jacket or two. Nothing that would be prized or treasured in any way. He doesn't even think he has body-wash.   
  
Where'd this guy even live before this?   
  
Skeppy wants to ask, but it seems a bit too personal right now, and he's still 89.7% sure this guy is a murderer of some kind. Maybe a little later, he tells himself.  
  
....he's staring at him again.  
  
"Oh!" Skeppy realizes, "You're done."   
  
Bad nods shyly, now sitting on the floor. There's an awkward side glance from both parties before Skeppy offers:  
  
"Wanna go get coffee with me?"  
  
  
  
The walk isn't long since they decide to leave their pets at home, they soon arrive near a coffee shop that's close by. Before they walk in, Skeppy stops Bad, much to his confusion.   
  
"Do you know what you want? I've been here a lot before so I can tell you what's on the menu." Skeppy asks him.  
  
"Oh, no I've been here before. But thank you!" Bad smiles before pushing the door open and walking inside.   
  
Now Skeppy isn't one to be familiar with faces, he forgets a name even after being told 2 seconds ago, but there's no way that this guy has been here before. He's only ever started visiting the place about 3 months ago, but he's never seen him anywhere near this place as far as he remembers. Now that he thinks about it, he hasn't seen him anywhere near this _area_ either, which if he hasn't been around the area, then how could he have been here before?  
  
Skeppy apparently spent to long thinking, because he gets a gentle tap on his shoulder and realizes he's been standing in the same spot for too long,   
  
It's Bad, he looks confused, "You okay?"  
  
"Yeah, Yeah I'm good, let's go." Skeppy says, walking inside like nothing happened, Bad now following behind.   
  
They both end up ordering (much to Skeppy's surprise Bad ends up ordering something vanilla, though he was expecting him to get something like straight black) and Skeppy pays for the both of them. They sit at the far back end of the room as a suggestion.   
  
Alright, he's now 99.9% sure Bad is a murderer. Who sits in the very back of a coffee shop?   
  
Bad doesn't say anything, just sips down whatever drink he chose quietly. He's painfully avoiding eye contact, and he looks like he wants to leave if anything. Skeppy has no idea what to say.   
  
"Why do you have so many knives?" Skeppy suddenly blurts out.  
  
Bad finally looks him in the eyes with a puzzled look on his face, "I thought I told you it was for self defense?"   
  
"Yeah but, you have so many. Surely you'd only need one, right?" Skeppy says.   
  
"Well, I mean..." Bad eyes his drink before taking another sip, "Sometimes I throw them for fun."  
  
"At people?" He asks immediately.  
  
"No no, of course not!" Bad suddenly sits up, "Why are you so convinced I'm a murderer??"  
  
"I don't know?" Skeppy feels guilt trickle into his heart, but fights back with reassurance. He always been told to stay away from sharp objects and thing that could probably kill you, so this isn't any different, "I've just been told to stay away from those things because they could hurt someone. They're dangerous, y'know? "  
  
"They're really not," Bad says, now relaxing and closing his eyes, "Weapons can never hurt you if you know how to use them correctly."   
  
"Still though." Skeppy says, looking off to the side, "I'm scared shitless of guns."   
  
"Language.." Bad mumbles.   
  
Skeppy tilts his head to the side, "And that, why do you do that?"  
  
"Do what?"   
  
"Say language, whenever I curse."  
  
Bad doesn't say anything for a second, just closes his eyes and drinks his coffee before quietly responding, "Language."   
  
"I didn't even fucking curse that time!"  
  
"Hey! Language!" Bad scream whispers, and for the first time that day, he giggles. Skeppy barely misses it, but he smiles that the noise and his chest feels warm.   
  
He doesn't miss his chance to bite back though, "You literally throw knives for fun."   
  
"I have standards." Bad says.  
  
_Really fuckin' weird ones,_ Skeppy thinks to himself.   
  
They end up side chatting, Skeppy talks about a couple of his friends before they leave for home, tired of the smell of caffeine and caramel.   
  
Alright, he's 45.1% sure that Bad is a murderer.   
  
  
  
At the end of the day, near around 9 PM, Skeppy gets a knock at his bedroom door with a quiet "Hello?"  
  
"Come in!" Skeppy yells from across the room.  
  
Bad pokes his head through the door carefully, his hair looks wet and he's dressed in black pajama bottoms and a red sweater, he had probably come out from showering.   
  
"I just wanted...um to say goodnight. And thank you for letting me stay here." Bad says softly.   
  
Oh.   
  
"It's no problem," Skeppy says, trying his hardest not to break out into a full grin, "you can come to me if you need anything, okay?"   
  
Bad nods slowly before closing the door quietly.   
  
For the third time that day, Skeppy dials the same number on his phone.  
  
"It's two. In the morning." Vurb says groggily.  
  
"Alright, I'm 100% sure he's not a murderer." Skeppy says.   
  
"I told you."   
  
"I'm 1000% sure he's insane though."   
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Skeppy feels a little safer sleeping that night, knowing that Bad probably won't hurt him. He hopes.

He'd woken up a little early for his liking, a ripe 9 AM, groaning as he desperately tried to sleep just a little longer. He hopelessly failed, sighing to himself as he got out of bed, blinking his tired eyes open. He'd then started his somewhat of a routine, showering, brushing his teeth and throwing on some sorts and one of his 3 t-shirts before walking downstairs to go get something to eat.

While walking towards the kitchen, Skeppy hears a slight snoring beside him but ignores it, assuming it's only Rocco still sleeping since it was pretty early. It's only as he turns, something red flashes in his peripherals that he double takes and he stops at the sight before him. 

Bad was covered in a red and black quilt on the couch, snuggled up and snoring lightly with Rat on the floor next to him. 

Skeppy takes a minute to take in the sight of it all while wondering how and why he ended up there. He's not complaining though, instead he walks a little quieter and instead of having something crunchy like cereal and or an apple, he settles on a glass of apple juice. He wasn't really hungry anyway. 

A few minutes later, there's a small movement and footsteps before Bad pokes his head in the kitchen.

"Hi." He says, voice hoarse from waking up.

"Hey," Skeppy says, "You want some water?" Bad nods shyly as Skeppy tosses him a cold bottle of water from the fridge. 

"Thank you." He says quietly before turning back and grabbing his quilt, walking back to his room while tiny footsteps follow behind him. 

Skeppy smiles to himself, for once in a long long time, he doesn't feel as alone. He decides at that moment to make the both of them breakfast, even though his cooking skills were incredibly subpar. 

So he decides to make classic pancakes before realizing he doesn't have pancake mix. So instead he tries to make them from scratch, grabbing milk, flour, salt, sugar, eggs and baking soda to start. He's never really tried this before, but he's got this. Besides, people make pancakes from scratch all the time. It can't be that hard, right? 

  
Yeah no, he was so, terribly wrong.

He really should looked up a recipe instead of going off of common knowledge, because he has absolutely no idea what he's doing. Skeppy puts the flour in a large bowl, but has no idea how much salt he should use, so he ends up using two cups of sugar because pancakes are pretty sweet, right? He only uses a pinch of salt and eyeballs the baking soda. Next, instead of mixing the wet ingredients in a separate and then putting the entire thing together, he pours almost half of the milk and plops two full eggs in the mix as well before whisking it all together with a fork.

Skeppy looks at his work like its the Mona Liza before hearing a confused voice behind him.

"What the muffin are you doing?" Bad asks, squinting his eyes. 

"I'm making us pancakes." Skeppy says proudly, "Come look."

The taller walks over to look at the mess that Skeppy calls "pancakes" and winces, as if the sight had just stabbed him in the chest. "Skeppy" He says, "That looks terrible. What did you even put in there?" 

Skeppy's pride immediately drops at the comment, "What do you mean? It looks good to me..." 

Bad sticks a finger in the batter to taste, but it's so watery that he fails and most of it falls off. Still, he puts it in his mouth and physically recoils at the terrible taste. 

Skeppy laughs, "It's that bad, huh?"

"Yeah..." Bad says, "You didn't even add butter."

"There's butter in pancakes?" 

Bad shoots Skeppy a confused look before asking, "Do you want me to make it for you?" 

"You know how?" Skeppy wipes his hands on his T-shirt, feeling slightly embarrassed about this situation.

"Yeah. A little bit ago I used to work at a bakery." Bad says as he cleans out the bowls to start over.

"You're weird." Skeppy says, "You don't swear and cook but you throw knives for fun?"

Bad rolls his eyes, "I don't get why you keep bringing that up..." 

"It's interesting." 

"Sure, okay." 

Skeppy watches closely as Bad works in silence. He actually makes the batter the right way, mixing the ingredients in the according bowls and using a recipie to figure out how much of each he should put in what. When he fries them, he keeps his eyes on the pan at all times. He's clumsy though, almost flips a pancake onto the floor but saves it just in time. By late 11 AM they're both sitting at the table, happily eating pancakes together. 

"Okay, I hate to admit but these are pretty good." Skeppy says in between bites. Bad only hums in acknowledgment, tired from standing for nearly an hour.

"Hey," Bad says, getting up to clean his plate, "I'm gonna go out for a little bit, I shouldn't be gone for too long though."

Skeppy nods, "Where are you going?" 

Bad doesn't stick around to answer, walking away and washing his dish before heading off to this room to go get dressed. After a few minutes he leaves with what Skeppy can see is a knife in one hand and the outline of what seems a be a gun in his jacket pocket. 

Okay, yeah no. Bad is defiantly a murderer, because who just randomly goes out with a gun no explanation as to why? And yeah he knows it's for self defense, but there's never been any signs of danger in this area as far as he knows. Rocco seems to agree, because he sits with his head down near Skeppy's feet and doesn't move after Bad leaves. 

Even with his uncertainty, he kinda wished he had went with him, because he suddenly starts feeling lonely again. He tries to distract himself, playing video games, skateboarding around the area, cuddling with his dogs, even cleaning around the house a little bit, but nothing works. Even worse, it had been nearly 4 hours since Bad had left, and even his dog was starting to get worried. She had been sat in front of the door for a little while now and hadn't moved since, no matter how much Skeppy tried to move her away. Nothing would persuade her either; food, toys, and apparently not even sleep. 

It was only until 8 PM when the door had finally creaked open and something shuffled through slowly. Skeppy had ran downstairs as fast as he could at the sound and stopped when he saw Bad standing in the doorway. 

He was hunched over and holding his side on the verge of tears, clearly in pain as blood dripped down his hand and onto the floor. His black jacket had blood and tears near the wound. 

"What the fuck?" Skeppy yells, "What the hell happened? Are you okay? "

"Yeah," Bad says, another stream of blood flowing down his hand and onto the floor, "Totally." 

Skeppy wants to touch him or at least hold him onto his side, but he's not sure if he should. But on the other hand, he looks like if he doesn't get some sort of support on him, he's gonna fall over, which is gonna cause him more pain. Skeppy quickly grabs a chair and slowly sits him down. 

"Where the hell did you go?" Skeppy says, running to try to find something to stop the bleeding once he's sure Bad won't fall over. 

Bad doesn't say anything, just sits in silence as the tears begin to spill over and drop down his face. As Skeppy comes back with towels and napkins, he notices that the other's glasses are missing. "Did you get jumped or something?" 

Bad hesitantly nods and Skeppy's eyes widen in fear as he slowly moves Bad's hand to place the towel on the wound. He gets a semi look at it and yeah, it pretty bad. He's not even sure how he manages to look at it without gaging; it's pretty wide, and apparently the presumed knife was able to cut through the fabric of his black t-shirt. Bad winces as Skeppy slowly places the towel onto the gash in his side before moving away to get a good look at him. The man is silently sobbing now, his black jeans from the day before are now covered in dirt and blood. His hair is a mess, some of it is sticking out in random places but most of it is in front of his eyes. Bad flinches as Skeppy slowly brushes the hair out of his eyes to get a better look at his face, which is mostly fine aside from his green eyes, which are tired and glossy with tears.

He looks like he went through hell and back.

"Why didn't you call someone?" Skeppy asks, pulling back from his face to question him further. 

Bad's reply is so quiet Skeppy barely hears it, "My phone died." 

"Oh." Skeppy says, making that a mental note in his head, "And you couldn't get home because your glasses went missing?" 

Bad nods silently, wincing at his side again. Right, he's still hurt. 

"Alright, I'm gonna take care of you for now, but we're calling the hospital, okay?" Bad nods again.

Skeppy has tended to wounds before, but never something as serious as a stab wound. He's even lucky to have a first aid kit in the bathroom drawer. He makes another mental note to thank Vurb for that. When he gets back, Bad's eyelids are drooping and he looks like he falling asleep.

Skeppy panics, quickly snapping his fingers to wake him up. "No no, don't sleep! I still gotta get you cleaned up. Stay awake, okay?"

To Skeppy's relief, Bad's eyes open a little wider and he makes an attempt to nod his head. 

Skeppy removes the towel from the wound (Bad flinches a little harder this time, because the blood had started to stick to his skin) and begins to start applying rubbing alcohol, but Bad immediately tries to scoot back and shakes his head rather violently when he realizes what Skeppy is trying to do. 

"It's okay!" Skeppy tries to coo, "I promise it'll only hurt for a few seconds." Despite his best efforts, Bad doesn't comply as tears began to run down his face again. 

"Bad, I have to," He tries to reason, "It's gonna get infected if I don't. I promise I'll try to make it as pain free as possible, okay?"

Bad pauses his head shaking for a second, as if he trying to think it over. He finally looks back at Skeppy, blinking back the rest of his tears and gently moving himself forward to allow Skeppy to take care of him. 

"Thank you." Skeppy says, "Do you want me to hold your hand while I do it?" 

Bad suddenly looks off to the side, embarrassed and eyebrows furrowed. He softly whispers, "I'm not a child..."

But Skeppy takes his hand anyway and squeezes it gently for reassurance. Bad doesn't move away.

He places the cloth onto his wound slowly, yet Bad nearly screams in pain, squeezing Skeppy's hand hard and almost writhing out of his grasp. Skeppy fights the urge to recoil for Bad's sake, letting him abuse his poor hand for the time being. Bad is fully sobbing now, tears flowing freely down his face as Skeppy just holds it there, trying to let Bad adjust. After a few minutes, Bad is sobbing a lot quieter, and Skeppy takes that as his chance to start rubbing slowly. Bad nearly flips back in his chair, and he would've fallen over if not for Skeppy's hand pulling him back into place. 

He pretty sure Bad is going to tear off his hand if he doesn't let go though. But for now he couldn't care less.

After some time, Skeppy lets go of the cloth and Bad finally calms down a little, breathing in and out slowly and softly wiping the tears from his face.

"Right, okay. I'm gonna go call the ambulance. Do you need anything?" Skeppy pulls his phone out of his pocket. Bad shakes his head. 

Within ten minutes of calling them, the ambulance arrives and takes Bad away for the night, leaving Skeppy alone with himself once again. Rat begins to paw at the door, wondering where he owner is heading off to. Skeppy's heart pangs for her. 

He sleeps restlessly that night, worry and fear occupying his thoughts as he slips into unconsciousness. 

The next morning, after following his routine of shower, brush, and eat, while also feeding Rocco and Rat (he snaps a picture of Rat for Bad, thinking he might like it), he immediately goes to the hospital to visit Bad. They let him in rather quickly, much to his delight, and he finds Bad in room 243 He sitting in one of the hospital beds, smiling to himself and coloring what he assumes to be a children's coloring page. Skeppy's heart melts at the sight.

"Guess who." he smiles sheepishly and waves from the door. 

Bad looks up and quickly discards of the coloring book, "Hi." he says. 

Skeppy walks in and sits on the chair next to him bed, trying to think of what to ask. Finally, he settles on, "You feelin' any better?" 

Bad nods his head and starts to play with his fingers a little now that he has nothing to do. 

"I saw you coloring." Skeppy says, "I don't think you're a kid, y'know. You can color freely." 

Bad looks at him for a few moments before pulling the coloring book from behind his back. 

Skeppy leans over just a bit to see what the other was doodling. He's able to make out a blue hoodie, a red hoodie and two grey scribbles next to both figures. Skeppy's eyebrows knit in confusion before he finally connects the dots, "Is that us?"

Bad nods shyly, a light shade of pink flushing over his cheeks before he starts pushing it away from Skeppy's eyesight. 

Skeppy smiles in his head. It had only been a few days and Bad had already started drawing them together. His heart fluttered. 

"They had to give me stiches." Bad says, "They said I can go home tonight, but I have to be really careful."

Skeppy's heart flips in excitement at the thought of Bad coming home, but he keeps his cool. "Alright. Oh, Rat misses you."

Bad's eyes light up at the sound of his dog's name. "She does?" 

"Mhm." Skeppy hums, pulling out his phone to show him a picture. "She wouldn't stop sitting at the front door waiting for you to come home." 

Bad eyes soften. "Make sure she knows I miss her too." 

"Wil do." 

It falls quiet after a little. Bad falls back into his coloring trance and Skeppy watches from a distance, fighting back a smile when Bad draws a scribbly yellow figure that Skeppy assumes is his car. The other's art skills are pretty bad, but Skeppy isn't really one to talk. 

Flashbacks of the night before trickle into Skeppy's mind as time passes. He debates asking about it, not wanting to break the calm setting of the room.

Still, he finds himself asking, "Where did you...um. Where did you go? Yesterday, I mean."

Bad looks at Skeppy for a moment, then he moves the scribbled paper and pulls out a fresh one. He begins drawing silently and Skeppy fights back a frown. Is he seriously just gonna ignore him every time he asks? Without warning, Bad hands Skeppy the piece of paper and turns away to avoid meeting his gaze. 

Bad had drawn a picture of some trees and a broken down car in the middle. In front of the car, there was a large piece of tan wood with black lines in them, and in front of that was a stick figure, which was presumably Bad.

Skeppy furrows his eyebrows in frustration. What kind of cryptic bullshit was this? Couldn't he just tell him where he was instead of letting him figure it out for himself? 

"...It's hard to explain." Bad mumbles, "I don't know if I'm really ready to talk about it. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." Skeppy says, "Can I keep the drawing?" 

Bad nods. Skeppy takes the drawing and folds into fours before stuffing it in his hoodie pocket. 

It's quiet for a little, Bad continues to draw little figures and shapes and Skeppy watches silently, admiring the focus of the other. After a while, they say their goodbyes and Skeppy leaves the hospital with a little more hope than he had when he'd left. The hours pass by slowly for him. Skeppy doesn't have much to do considering he had done every chore in the house to distract himself for the pain of his friend. Skeppy isn't even sure if he can call him that yet, but he thinks it's okay.

Skeppy also starts to takes notice of the other's dog. Rat has been quite yappy, even before Bad had come home hurt. She doesn't seem to mind Rocco, much to Skeppy's relief, she just sorta knows he exists. If she wasn't curled up on the floor near Bad's room, she would be sitting in front of the door, waiting for him to come home. She seems to miss him almost as much as Bad does. 

It would be sweet, heartwarming even, if she would do _anything else_. She rarely eats now that Bad isn't near, ignoring any food or water until Skeppy has to quite literally drag her kicking and barking over to her food bowl. And even then she'll make her way back to sit in front of the door again, even falling asleep there,, and then Skeppy will have to carefully pick her up and place her on Bad's bed so he doesn't accidently step on her when he can't tell the difference between her and the floor. Of course, she does eventually eat, Skeppy makes sure she does, but he can't help but sigh in relief as Skeppy drives to the hospital at 9 PM to go bring Bad home. 

It seems like Rat misses him even more than when he came home yesterday, because she starts pawing at his feet and barking so loud even Bad winces at the sound before slowly reaching down to scoop her in his arms lovingly. 

"Hi!" Bad smiles wide at his pet before snuggling close into her fur, "Did you miss me? 

Skeppy wants to scoff at that. Obviously. 

Rocco comes over to sniff Bad. The taller man bends over slowly to scratch at his head and Skeppy smiles. I guess they all sort of missed Bad, even only knowing his for a few days. 

Bad puts Rat down and makes his way to his room before Skeppy can say anything to him, which is fair. He can't stand very long because of his stiches, and he needs time to get better. Skeppy can't help but remember the cryptic picture for a moment before shaking the thought away. Bad said it was hard to explain, and he knows he'll want to know more if he thinks about it for too long. 

Bad can't really do much while injured, so Skeppy helps him with little things; Picking up stuff he drops, helping him reach to grab items on shelves that he has to reach for, and Bad continuously begs him and apologizes for making him do so much, and that he can do it himself (which he can't; they both know that), but Skeppy always tells him it's really fine and he wants to help him get better. Bad will always turn pink and look away, heavily embarrassed, but he mumbles a "Thank you.." anyway, and Skeppy's heart should soar as much as it does. 

Sometimes, they'll both reach for something at the same time and brush fingers in the process, but it quickly goes unnoticed by both parties, even though Bad will turn away, and Skeppy will secretly giggle in his head at his reaction.

Weeks go by, September turns into October and Bad heals quickly, getting his stiches off in nearly 2 weeks after he had been to the hospital. Soon after, they fall into a pattern of some sort. They'll always be doing their own thing, Skeppy will be in his room recording something with a friend, and Bad... well, Bad doesn't really do much, from what Skeppy can see. Ever since the incident, he rarely ever goes outside, and when he does, it's only to take Rat for a walk for a few minutes before quickly returning inside. He only ever goes out when Skeppy invites him somewhere, and even so, as they walk to a nearby park or coffee shop just for a little while to escape from home, Bad will quietly link arms with him without another word, and Skeppy lets him. Hell, it even makes himself feel a little safer. 

It a new thing Bad does, touching or holding Skeppy in some way. When they're on the couch together, he'll sit next to him and they'll watch a documentary together while Bad touches shoulders with him. When Skeppy is lying down or sitting somewhere mindlessly scrolling through his phone in a daze, Bad will creep up behind him and soothingly run his fingers through his fair for a few minutes before pulling away and walking away to do something else. Sometimes, Skeppy will do it back; When they head out together and Bad looks stressed, Skeppy will run his fingers down his back to try and calm him down a little. 

They don't fully talk about it, Bad will quietly say "Thank you" when Skeppy tries to sooth him, and Skeppy will smile and hum when Bad runs his fingers through his hair. It's a mutual agreement between the two, Skeppy likes it that way. 

He feels like he can call fully him a friend now. He thinks.   
  
One night though, while recording a video with Vurb at a painful 3:21 AM, he gets a quiet knock at his door.   
  
"Vurb, shut up real quick." Skeppy says, ignoring the "rude" that's thrown at him, "Come in!"  
  
Bad pokes his head through the door, "Hey."  
  
Skeppy blinks at him, confused, "Hey, you okay?"  
  
Bad slowly shakes his head no, "I had a bad dream. Can't go back to sleep."   
  
"Oh." Skeppy looks over to his bed, "You...you can sleep in here, if you want? I'm not gonna be sleeping for a while."   
  
"Y'sure?" Bad goes to move the hair out of his sleepy eyes, "You don't have to, I can go sleep on the couch-"  
  
"Bad, it's okay. Take the bed." Skeppy insists, "The couch isn't very comfortable to sleep on anyway."  
  
A barely audible "thank you" is mumbled as Bad walks over to the plain gray bedsheets and slips himself under quietly. Skeppy turns away so Bad can sleep without being watched.   
  
"Well well well," Skeppy groans as soon as he hears the smug voice from the other end, "What do we have here Skeppy?"  
  
"Vurb, shut up, you're so annoying." Skeppy says, quiet though, so he doesn't wake up the man sleeping next to him.  
  
"Y'know what?" Vurb says, and Skeppy is _sure_ he's smiling right now, "I'm feeling pretty tired Skeppy, I just might go to bed right now and so should you. Your sleep schedule is already shit. Goodnight!"  
  
"Vurb I swear to god-" Skeppy starts, but Vurb has already ended the call before he can get another word in. He tries to call him back, but to no avail. Vurb knows he has to finish the recording with him, and yet he still left, the bastard.   
  
Skeppy sighs looks over to his bed to check on the other, and to his surprise Bad is still wide awake, staring at him from under the covers before blinking rapidly and turning away awkwardly, as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have.  
  
"I...guess I'm heading to bed early then." Skeppy says.   
  
"Oh." Bad says, he starts to move to get up, "It's alright, I'll go-"

"No no, wait a second." Skeppy stops him, "Stay there."  
  
Bad stops all movement as Skeppy shifts over and slides next to him, pulling him back under, "You can stay." he says, "Just don't hog the covers, okay?"  
  
The other nods silently, snuggling back into place, and closing his eyes and muttering another "Thank you" before finally breathing slowly.  
  
Skeppy doesn't mean to stare, but he's sort of forced to since they're facing each other. He notices a small scar near his bottom lip. He seems to have a lot of scars, probably from the knife throwing. He's noticed most of them are on his hands, which makes sense. His eyelashes are also pretty long, and they flutter every time Bad breathes out.   
  
Skeppy's completely mesmerized. It's almost like he's in some sort of trance.  
  
Bad must've felt Skeppy staring at him, because his eyes slowly open to look at him again, "What are you doing?"  
  
It's now Skeppy's turn to be awkward, "Shit, sorry. I didn't mean to stare, my bad."   
  
Bad blinks his eyes closed, "It's fine. I don't mind." he says, "Also, language."   
  
"Shut up." Skeppy snickers, "You can't even let it go when you're tired?"  
  
"Nope. Now sleep, you muffin." Bad says, moving Skeppy closer until they're nearly nose to nose, and he swears his heart would be doing backflips if it wasn't for the fact that he actually was kind of tired, especially after dealing with Vurb all night.   
  
So Skeppy shifts even closer so that his head is resting on Bad's neck and their legs are intertwined and he can feel the other's breath on his neck.   
  
Skeppy really should ask what his dream was about. Maybe it had something to do with the incident last month. He hasn't forgotten, the memory of blood and tears remain in his brain from all those weeks ago. The drawing is tucked away in his closet and it hasn't been touched since September.  
  
He hopes Bad feels safer now that he's here. Maybe Skeppy can protect him.   
  
He makes a mental note to get over his fear of guns.  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Skeppy isn't sure. 

He isn't sure why he lets Bad stay close to him, despite thinking he was a murderer a month ago. He doesn't understand why he lets Bad nuzzle his chin in his hair and link arms with him when they walk to get coffee or walk their dogs together occasionally. He doesn't know why he doesn't tell him stop when they get a little too close and have to back away sometimes. 

He isn't sure why he doesn't pull himself away when he wakes up the next day held warmly in the other's arms. Isn't sure why he lets himself breathe for a minute, letting himself listen to the quiet snores of the man that holds him as he flushes in confusion. 

It's a little strange, when he thinks about it. How quick he was to open up to someone new. How fast he was able to become so close with this one person that he found by chance, to the point of sharing his bed with him when he had a nightmare. Maybe it was just how Bad was; easy to get along with, kind, creative. He certainly was a lucky find, in Skeppy's eyes at least. 

He obviously has a lot more to learn about him. The only things he really know are that he owns weapons, loves his dog, that he can make pancakes. Really good pancakes. 

Bad quietly stirs for a moment before going back to quietly snoozing, still holding Skeppy, but much looser now. Skeppy takes that as he que to get up, and he quietly tries to shift his way out of the older man's embrace. 

Apparently Bad doesn't want to sleep alone, because he just pulls him back in, snuggling Skeppy against his cheek and murmuring to himself before breathing slowly again. 

  
Ah. 

Skeppy really doesn't want to wake the other up, he looks so comfortable and he's sure that he's probably dreaming of something good to be snuggling him close like this. Maybe he was dreaming of Rat, or an old friend of his. But he has to use the bathroom, and he's not sure if he can handle being this close without dying of embarrassment. 

So he tries to move away with more force this time; he wriggles a little, trying to move the other's arms off of his. No luck. 

"Bad," Skeppy whispers against his face, "I need to get up....hello?" Bad doesn't seem to hear him, despite Skeppy quite literally being flush with his face. 

Yes, Skeppy could be trying a little harder, and quite frankly he could just tap his leg or talk a little louder to get his attention, and he knows that. 

He knows fully well as he decides to give up and snuggle back against him (moving just enough so he's resting under his chin and not his cheek) closing his eyes and letting sleep take over him once again. 

  
The next time he wakes up, Bad is gone and he's alone in the bed, clinging onto nothing. Skeppy follows through with his normal routine as usual, but instead of brushing his hair, he leaves it a tangled mess, which sort of bothers him, but he does it for a good reason. 

When he leaves the room, the faint smell bacon is in the air and he smiles as he catches Bad in the kitchen, in his black and red pajamas, humming to himself as he tosses another strip onto the plate beside him. He seemed to be really good at that.

"Hey," Skeppy greets and Bad spares him a passing glace and a fond smile, "Hey." 

"You don't always have to make breakfast, y'know." Skeppy leans back onto the counter beside him, away from the hot oil so he doesn't get hit. Bad had usually been the one making meals for them ever since the one time Skeppy tried to make pancakes for them, and Skeppy had always been grateful, especially since he couldn't cook if his life depended on it.

Bad shakes his head, "It's almost 2 PM, and it's the least I could do for you letting me sleep in your room." 

Skeppy shakes off the mental image of being held in Bad's arms before responding, "It's fine. But speaking of that, what was your nightmare about?"

Bad immediately finds himself much more interested in the hot pan in front of him, "I'd rather not talk about it, if that's fine." 

"No, it's fine! Sorry." Skeppy apologizes, quickly changing the subject, "You are a heavy sleeper though."

"Am I?" Bad asks.

"You are." Skeppy says, "You were holding me so tight I couldn't move." A lie. He could've moved if he wanted to. "I tried to tell you to get up, but I don't think you heard me." Another lie. He could've yelled a little more.

"Oh." Bad says, turning his head away from Skeppy's view and pulling his hair in front of his eyes, "Sorry, I didn't mean to." 

"Nah, it's fine." Skeppy says calmly, "It was nice." 

Bad finishes his last strip of bacon before washing his hands clean and handing a plate to Skeppy. They sit at the table, Rat curled up by Bad's feet as they eat in comfortable silence. Bad had given Skeppy a lot more bacon than himself and he was only halfway done when Bad stood up to wash his plate.

"You not hungry?" Skeppy takes another bite off his plate. Bad shakes his head before walking off to his room.

There's not much to do since they've woken up late. Bad spends most of this time in his room and Skeppy calls Vurb back to finish their recording, giving him hell in the process. Today was more of an off day, and it bores Skeppy to the core. After he's finished his recording and ends the call with Vurb, he spins around in his chair for a while, pondering what to do next. Bad probably doesn't feel like going out for coffee with him at the moment with the way he acted earlier. 

Rocco comes in, interrupting Skeppy's thoughts as he sits down at the boy's feet and looks at him curiously. Skeppy smiles at him and reaches down to scratch his head. 

"You wanna go for a walk buddy?" Skeppy decides at that moment. He knows Rocco can't talk, but he swears he sees him nod his head and he grins at him in response. 

Walking Rocco was always a nice way to pass time. Usually he's always behaved and knows when he wants to head home. Skeppy likes to watch the way he looks at things and wonder what he's thinking about. Sometimes he'll see something particularly shiny on the sidewalk and stare at it for a while, which Skeppy laughs at every single time. 

Skeppy gets dressed, throwing on some black jeans and a blue hoodie, but still keeping his hair a mess. He leaves his room with Rocco by his side, and Skeppy finds Bad again. He's sitting on the couch with a blanket and Rat in his lap, scrolling through his phone mindlessly, just as Skeppy sometimes would. He decides to switch up the roles this time; Skeppy creeps up behind him and nestles his chin into his hair, "Hello BadBoyHalo."

Bad flinches a little, but quickly relaxes when he realizes it's only him, "Hello Skeppy. You need something?" 

"Nah, I'm just taking Rocco for a walk." Skeppy says, "You wanna come?" 

Bad tries to shake his head as best as he can in the position they're in, "I'm tired right now. Maybe another time." 

Skeppy hums and lifts his head off of his before grabbing Rocco's leash off of a hook near the front door and attaching it to him. 

"Wait, hold on. What's up with your hair?" He hears from behind him, and he slowly begins to smile, but makes sure to keep his voice steady when he answers, "What do you mean?" 

"Skeppy, your hair is tangled. Did you not brush it this morning?" Bad asks in the concerned tone. 

"I guess not."

Bad hesitates a little, "Come here." Skeppy is full on beaming in his head now, dropping Rocco's leash on the ground and walking back over to where Bad's sitting, looking at him expectantly.

"Yeah?"

"Squat down for a second." 

Skeppy complies, bending his knees a little and closing his eyes. He almost opens them again when nothing happens at first, but then he feels fingers running through his hair softly, carefully pulling and separating the tangles with ease, and Skeppy almost gasps at the touch. It felt like heaven; each hand was where the other wasn't, massaging every part of his head and making him drowsy in an instant. It was like if Bad was normally petting his hair, but twenty times more intense. Skeppy feels himself slowly begin to lose consciousness, but he can't bring himself to get up or ask Bad to stop.

His knees begin to wobble when he feels like he's on the brink of passing out and he would've almost collapsed onto Bad's lap with Rat still on it if Bad hadn't managed to grab both his shoulders and push him up before he could. 

"Skeppy-!" Bad yelps in surprise. 

"Huh-" He says, eyes fluttering open and blinking rapidly when he realizes what's happened, "OH-"

"You muffin- you fell asleep??" Bad snickers while Skeppy pulls himself up to his feet again, "I was only fixing your hair, you potato."

"Yeah, and it felt really good. What about it?" Skeppy laughs and looks away shyly, ruffling the front part of his hair a little with his own fingers, "Thank you, BadBoyHalo." 

"Don't mention it, Skeppy muffin head." Bad shoots back. 

Skeppy smiles and rolls his eyes, walking over to pick up Rocco's leash again and dropping a quick goodbye before leaving the house, Rocco leading him. 

Outside is rather nice today, the trees that were once green before have turned a rich red and orange color and most of the leaves have fallen onto the now lime colored grass. Skeppy sometimes stop to pick up a few and examine them on the sidewalk, crumpling them in his hands and throwing them out into the wind, which speaking of, was a little too cold for his liking. Skeppy curses himself for neglecting to put on a jacket, but he figures he won't be long and that he'll survive.

It's peaceful. Skeppy doesn't really have much to worry about because Rocco doesn't stray from the sidewalk, only sniffs some of the stray leaves on the path and bark at some squirrels, but keeps peace altogether. 

It's only when the skies suddenly start to darken when he gets worried and thinks about heading back. They've been walking for a little while now anyway, and as much as Skeppy would like to think he can survive cold weather, he can't for long. So he pulls on Rocco's leash twice to signal it's time to go back. It takes a little bit for him to get the message, but he turns around and Skeppy begins to lead him in the direction of home. 

The drops of rain have already began, and Skeppy feels a couple land on his forehead. He tilts his head up to look at the sky. The clouds have gotten much greyer now, and the rain has started to fall harder with each passing moment. 

It was probably safe to say it would start storming soon. 

Skeppy tries to urge Rocco along, to pick up the pace. Luckily he begins to feel the rain too and they start speeding up until they're fulling spiriting towards home in the now pouring rain, Skeppy not even bothering to pull his hoodie up from how soaked it felt behind him. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the adrenaline rush he got out of it though; his heart was pounding hard in his ears and even though the rain felt cold, he felt warm all over from the wind howling in his ears. 

By the time they reach home, it's full on storming, hard. Thunder had began to hit the ground fiercely and small sparks of lighting could be seen in the far distance. Skeppy knows that though the chances of getting stuck by lighting are low, they're not zero, so he gets him and Rocco inside as soon as possible.

"Bad?" Skeppy calls out when he gets both him and his dog through the door, "I'm home. It's raining."

Bad doesn't answer. Doesn't ask him if he's okay or shame him for forgetting to check the weather forecast before leaving. Actually, Bad wasn't even in the living room anymore. He was probably in his bedroom, cuddling Rat and napping. Skeppy doubts it though, the storm was pretty loud and probably impossible to sleep through. Skeppy also takes notice of how dark it is. The heavy rain probably caused the power to go out for a while. 

He really should go dry off first. He's covered in rain water and probably smells like wet grass, plus he gonna get the entire floor wet and it'll be a pain to clean up afterwards. But he finds himself gravitating towards Bad's room anyway, knocking on the door 3 times before calling out, "Hello? Bad? You okay?" 

There's no answer, and Skeppy isn't sure if he should go in. He carefully pokes his head through the door, just in case Bad is sleeping. There's no one in the room, it's empty. And also really clean, because nothing looks out of place. Even his lock box for his knives don't look disturbed at all, carefully tucked away in the closet next to his only pair of shoes. It probably hasn't been touched in a while. 

It somehow makes him feel worse, the thought of Bad being somewhere without the thing that he swears makes him feel safe. Skeppy leaves Bad room, closing the door quietly while he ponders on what to do for now. He's starting to feel gross, the feeling of wet clothes sticking to skin isn't exactly ideal when you're starting to become paranoid. So he heads to his room (nearly tripping over a lamp after a crash of thunder scares him) to get changed and think about what to do. 

It looks pretty much how he'd left it; clothes on the ground and his computer which was off. It would've been almost normal if there hadn't been a large lump in the blue blanket on his bed. Much too large for it to be Rat, for sure. Another bang of thunder hits and it twitches violently and a whimper makes it's way out.

Oh.

"Bad?" Skeppy makes his way across the room and touches the top of the blanket where Bad's head is. It flinches, just as Bad would whenever something unfamiliar touched him, and a small voice squeaks out after, "....Skeppy?" 

"Yeah, it's me." Skeppy says, moving to sit on the bed next to him. The thunder bangs loudly a few times, and Bad flinches so hard Skeppy almost ducks out of the way so he doesn't get hit from the impact. 

It's silent for a few minutes, the blanket still vibrating before Bad's strained voice peeps out again, "I don't like thunderstorms..." 

"Yeah...it um...it seems like it." Skeppy says quietly while playing with his thumbs, confused on what to do. 

He gets an idea, but he's not sure if he should try it; Bad doesn't seem like he wants to be touched right now with the way he's behaving. So he tries to offer his question in the most subtle way possible. 

"Do you want a hug?" He asks bluntly. 

He can't really tell if Bad said yes or not, the blanket is covering his head so when he nods it just looks like he's still shaking. But Bad pulls up the bottom of the blanket to peek at him, waiting for him to do something. Skeppy moves over and pulls his head under so that they're both under the blanket now, side by side. 

"Hey." Skeppy looks at man next to him. 

"Hi." Bad looks away sheepishly, pulls his sleeves over his still restless hands and mumbles into them, "This is embarrassing isn't it?" 

"Nah, not really." Skeppy says, pulling him closer so that they're connected by the hip now. "C'mere." 

Bad moves his hands off of his face to wrap them around Skeppy's neck and snuggle him as close as he can. It throws the younger one off guard hard and he can feel the other's face burning into his neck terribly. His heart becomes an acrobat, leaping into his throat and making it hard for him to breathe or say anything. He wraps his arms around Bad's back and lets himself melt into him. The thunder is still just as loud as it was before, and Bad still flinches every now and then, but Skeppy rubs small circle patterns into his back to let him know he's there. 

There's peace for a long while. Skeppy even begins to sway them a little, holding him even closer and relishing in the warm feeling beneath the covers.

"...Skeppy," Bad suddenly says right into his neck, and fuck he didn't think he face could feel any hotter but it does.

"Yeah?" 

"You smell like wet grass." 

Skeppy bursts out laughing instantly, removing all contact from Bad to start holding his stomach and wheeze hysterically, looking at him quizzically, "I- Bad what the heck??" 

"It's true!" Bad says in protest, "Why were you out in the rain so long anyway?" 

"I wasn't! It started raining out of nowhere, I swear." 

"Skeppy, it doesn't start raining out of nowhere." Bad says, trying to wipe the wetness off of his face but failing, "You should've wore a jacket, or checked the weather forecast just in case!"

"Dude," Skeppy lightly pushes him with his wet sleeve, still wheezing, "You are so predictable."

That has Bad sputtering, trying to defend himself but Skeppy isn't even listening, reaching over to hug him again, swaying a little harder him while doing so. And Bad, despite hugging him only seconds prior, starts flailing his arms and squealing, trying to rip his arms off like he was fighting a bear. 

"SkePPY-" Bad shrieks, finally pushing him off, "Let go, you potato head, you're all wet!"

"You were literally hugging me two minutes ago!"

"What's that have to do with it?"

"Wha- You're literally so dumb." 

"Hey-! Y'know what-" Bad suddenly flips them over so that they're lying on the bed, still hugging somehow in the process. Skeppy falls back first onto the bed with a loud "oof" from the impact of Bad falling right on top of him. They're both screaming with laughter, the thunder seeming like nothing now compared to the childish screams of the two.   
  
As if it couldn't get any worse, Bad begins to roll Skeppy around in the bed, dirtying the sheets further. Skeppy manages to finally push him off, but he wasn't fast enough to savor his blankets, because they're now almost drenched in lukewarm rainwater.

"Bad! You're such an idiot- now all my sheets smell like wet grass!"   
  
Bad smiles, shaking himself off and replying smugly, "That'll teach you."   
  
Skeppy is at a loss for words, "You did not just-"  
  
It's still dark in the room, so Skeppy can't see very well, but he swears he saw Bad stick his tongue out at him. 

"Poor Skeppy. He's all covered in water!" Bad says, giggling to himself, "You're new name is gonna be Geppy." 

"Bad, that's the worse nickname I've ever heard." Skeppy groans, "Please don't use that."

"Too late! You're gonna be Geppy from now on."   
  
Skeppy chucks a pillow at his head (it misses) before he can say anything else, "You're an idiot."  
  
Bad gives an offensive gasp, but Skeppy keeps talking, "Where'd Rat go, by the way? I haven't heard from her this entire time and she's not with you, is she?"   
  
Bad sighs, lifting up the blankets near the underneath of the bed. "She's under here."  
  
Skeppy pauses, "Why my bed though?"  
  
"I was chasing her around trying to calm her down when the thunder hit because she got scared. She eventually just ran into your room and hid under the bed. She stayed there once she knew I couldn't reach far enough to pull her out." Bad explains, dropping the blanket and sitting back on his knees.  
  
"The storm seems pretty far off now. The thunder isn't hitting as hard." Skeppy points out. The rain was still going pretty hard, but the thunder had quieted down a lot more now, only just barely hitting every few minutes, "Is she gonna be down there for a while?"  
  
"Maybe. Thunderstorms don't really strike that much so when they do it's really hard on her. My poor Lu Lu." Bad sadly looks at the covers of where his beloved pet was hidden, playing with a loose string on the edge of the blanket.  
  
Skeppy wants to externally cringe at the pet name, but he holds back and moves to sit on the floor next to Bad again, ruffling his hair, "It'll be okay."  
  
"I know." Bad says.  
  
"The rain will stop eventually."  
  
"I know."  
  
"And the sun will shine after it's all over."   
  
"Yes, Skeppy. I know."  
  
Skeppy taps Bad shoulder. Bad looks at him confused, "What?"  
  
"BadBoyHalo." He says.  
  
"Skeppy."   
  
"Do you wanna try something with me?"   
  
  
  
  
"I don't like where this is going." Bad stands in the now candle lit hallway, holding Skeppy's hand while looking at the wide open door in front of them wearily.   
  
"It'll be fine, and we don't have to do it again if you don't want to." Skeppy's using his free hand to pull up his blue rainboots properly, and then adjust the hood on his also blue raincoat, "I can't believe you don't have a raincoat."  
  
"Gee, I wonder why Geppy." Bad says, uncomfortably pulling at the blue raincoat he was wearing. Skeppy had lent him his spare, but it was a tad bit too small, only reaching his elbows before it stopped. But no matter how much he complained, Skeppy had insisted Bad had to wear it for this event, "What are we even doing?"  
  
Skeppy reaches up towards Bad face and takes his glasses off, "These are probably gonna be useless."   
  
"What- Skeppy can you please tell me what this is?" Bad asks again, watching as Skeppy sets his glasses down on a random counter.  
  
"You," Skeppy says, finally turning to look at Bad in the eyes, grinning widely as locks hands with him tight, "are gonna go rain running with me."   
  
"R-rain what-" Bad begins to protest but Skeppy has already pulled them forward as hard as he can past the door, making them run head first into the pouring sky.  
  
Screams mixed with pure bliss and pure terror could be heard from the pair as they began speeding down the sidewalk, splashing in any puddle in sight. Bad could do nothing but just hold on for dear life as he tried not to slip off of Skeppy's hand from how wet the rain had made it. People from inside houses and buildings could probably see them, probably judging them for being reckless, but at the moment Skeppy could care less, feeling lighter than he had ever felt in his life and laughing his cares away.  
  
"ARE YOU HAVING FUN?" Skeppy screamed as loud as he could so Bad could hear over the drops falling around them.   
  
"NO." Bad screamed back just as loud, his heart beating terribly fast as they continued running towards the end of the sidewalk where the road curved.   
  
They stop to catch their breath for a minute when they finally reach the end. Skeppy's hood had fallen off long before, his hair sopping wet and sticking to his face as he laughed and laughed from how silly this all was. Bad had now been clutched to his arm now, breathing heavily and panting so hard he could be mistaken for a dog. Skeppy looked up at him to catch a glimpse of his face; the hair that wasn't covered by the small hood was wet and stuck to his face, which was beet red and staring right back him with shiny green eyes that he could see much more clearly without his glasses in the way, with the same dumbfounded confused half-crooked smile he always had when he didn't understand why Skeppy did the things he did. He'd grown to adore that face, the same one that had looked at him over and over again. The same face that he could stare at for hours on end without getting tired.  
  
And wow, was he oh-so very pretty like this.   
  
The thought slips on accident, heart leaping into his throat again when the words fly past his lips.  
  
Bad furrows his eyebrows, "Huh-?" and Skeppy starts giggling, roughly pulling Bad in for a hug for the third time today, "What is wrong with you?"   
  
"Nothing, I feel great!" Skeppy yells from behind him pushing into him further, nearly tipping them over as Bad tries to stable them, "I love you, Bad!"   
  
Bad hugs him back, "You're....crazy. An absolute muffin Skeppy..."   
  
"Yeah, yeah." Skeppy pulls off of Bad to read his face properly, "Does it feel good? The rain I mean."   
  
His voice is too quiet, Skeppy barely manages to catch all of what he says, "I don't know...it's a little weird. I'm not used to it still, and I'm kinda terrified right now, to be honest." Bad looks back at him quickly, "Not that I'm like, not having fun! Well actually- debatable, but-"  
  
"Are you okay?"   
  
"I...don't know." He says again "It's not as Bad as thunder, I guess. And you're here."   
  
Skeppy's heart flutters, "Yeah. I'm always here."   
  
"Can you..." Bad starts, trying to find the right words to say, "be here...somewhere else? I'm not...I'm not freaking out...but I'm still a little put off and I don't know if I like this yet.."   
  
"Oh." Skeppy feels his heart pang. Of course it wasn't gonna take a run in the rain to change Bad's feelings towards it, and he knew that, but it was a good start, "Okay, c'mon."   
  
They start for home, and by the time they're halfway there the heavy rain has turned into a light sprinkle. Bad looks a lot more comfortable than he did before, he's looking around at the autumn setting that has settled in the past days that he's been sat inside. His eyes are pinched though, the man was pretty much blind without his glasses. He's trying his best to look at all the pretty scenery, but failing horribly.   
  
"What’s it look like without your glasses?" Skeppy asks when Bad finds himself staring at a particularly large tree far away.   
  
"Blurry." he replies, "Like a blur of red and orange on a blurry brown line, with a black blurry line"   
  
"So it's blurry then?" Skeppy snickers. Bad rolls his eyes. "No, Geppy. It's crystal clear."   
  
"You should get that laser eye surgery stuff old people get." Skeppy says, noting the lights that see to be on in the upcoming house, "Then you won't need to use your glasses anymore."   
  
"Absolutely not!" Bad recoils in horror, "I hate anything going in my eyes. _Especially_ lasers. Those things are terrifying."  
  
"One, I don't think it's an actual laser. And two, this from the guy that throws-"   
  
"Skeppy, if you say what I think you're about to say, I'll fight you."   
  
"You wouldn't."  
  
"I would." Bad says, pulling them along, "C'mon, we're almost home. I don't like smelling like rainwater."   
  
The street is near empty, only a few cars passing by every now and then. The rain had made everything look pretty now; the once gray sky was now a light pink and the orange leaves were littered across the street and sidewalk. The road had a reflection from the rain, so Skeppy could see his reflection whenever he looked down into it.   
  
Bad is holding his hand.   
  
He hadn't really thought about it until he looked down and saw it for himself. He had no clue when they did or who insinuated it, but it must've been a while ago if he's just now noticing. Bad's eyes are locked on the path for home, but their arms are swinging in sync, so he had to have noticed at some point.  
  
Bad seemed to be a very touchy person, in Skeppy eyes. But he flinched whenever he was touched without warming, even if he was at home with just the two of them. No matter how close Skeppy tries to make himself to be, Bad never lets his guard down around him, like he's always alert for something. It was pretty disheartening, but he gets it. Sort of.   
  
"Bad?" he says, scared to look him in the eyes for his question, choosing to look at the road beside them instead, "Where were you...before you met me?"   
  
He feels Bad's eyes on him when he turn to look at him. He takes his time answering, going quiet for what seems like a lifetime before he lets out, "Nowhere good."   
  
Skeppy gives him a genuine look, "What's that mean?"   
  
"It's...hard to put into words." Bad says, his free hand grabbing at his wet black sleeves, "I, sometimes..." he trails off, "I don't like to think of before. It...it wasn't good for me, where I was. It was okay for a while but..."   
  
Skeppy stays quiet, waiting for Bad to continue. When he doesn't say anything for a while, he speaks up to fill the silence, "Was it worse than here?"  
  
"...here?"  
  
"With me," he says, "Did you like it better there?"   
  
Bad drums his fingers on his sleeves, "Sometimes. I miss it there sometimes."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah," he hums quietly, looking at the sky to let the small drops fall onto his face, "but I'm glad I met you. You're..."   
  
"Different?" he asks hopefully.  
  
"No, not really." Bad says, making Skeppy's heart sink, "You're...just you. You're not really different, but you're not like...you're not like home. I think...I think you make me _feel_ different, in a way."   
  
"You're you," he continues, "and I'm me. But you make me feel...different. Like, I could do anything, and you'd be there waiting for me. Because you're always there."   
  
Skeppy isn't sure when he's supposed to speak, and part of him doesn't want to. Part of him wants to quietly listen to the other man's voice for a while. He rarely says anything personal about himself, much so for more than 5 minutes, so this was new.   
  
"I like you, Skeppy." Bad says, now whispering, "You're different, in a way. But you're also not different, and you're not like them."   
  
Skeppy's about to jump in and ask 'who's them?' but they've reached home now, and Bad has already let go of his hand to walk through the door before he can get another word in.   
  
  
  
Skeppy thinks a lot that night.   
  
He doesn't know what time it is, and he doesn't know how much time has passed, but he's up most of the night wondering and theorizing and thinking for a long time.   
  
There was a lot to process; Who was Bad talking about when he said 'them'? Where did Bad live before? How come he isn't different? What happened to Bad before he met him?  
  
 _"I like you, Skeppy."_  
  
God.   
  
His heart beats a little faster at the reminder. Bad likes him, because he's not like the people he used to know. But he isn't different...he's..  
  
He's kind of different.   
  
Skeppy wants to throw his head into the pillow and groan. Again with the cryptic bullshit messages.   
  
He debates about going to sleep, nearly reaching over to pull the covers over himself when his phone buzzes.  
  
It reads 2:23 AM when he opens the painfully bright screen. But surprisingly there's also a message from Bad.  
  
 **"Get dressed and come to my room."  
  
** Of course Bad, because he needed _more_ cryptic messages.   
  
Despite it being two in the morning, Skeppy pushes himself onto his feet and throws on a another pair of black jeans and a white hoodie before he makes his way to Bad's room.  
  
He reaches the door he knocks twice. Bad opens it, fully dressed in a military green and a full black jacket with combat boots and to top it all off, a knife in his left pocket.   
  
Bad looks at him confused, "Where's your jacket?"   
  
"Dude, what the hell."   
  
"Hey-!" he scream whispers, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Bad- it's two in the morning. What are you doing?" Skeppy asks, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.   
  
"I want to show you something." Bad says, lowing his voice a little, "It's about...when I got hurt."   
  
Skeppy quirks an eyebrow, "And you're showing me at 2 AM because...?"  
  
"It's safer this way." Bad says.   
  
"I'd beg to differ. But alright fine, since you did my thing, I'll do yours." Skeppy sighs, turning back to grab his jacket.  
  
"Thank you," Bad calls out, "And switch into something black. We can't get caught."   
  
Of course, because that wasn't ominous as fuck.   
  
Skeppy comes back a few minutes later, wearing a black hoodie instead of a white one, and his also black jacket that he had zipped up so he wouldn't get cold.   
  
"C'mon." Bad motions towards the door, pulling Skeppy out of the door and towards a wooded area.   
  
Yeah, no. He was definitely a murderer. He should've called Vurb before he left.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cliffhanger...sorry! <3  
> comments and kudos appreciated !


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